Terms & Conditions

These terms govern your use of paulcaputo.wine (“the site”), operated by Paul Caputo from the United Kingdom. By creating an account or using the site, you agree to them. If you don’t agree, don’t use the site.

1. Who I am

Paul Caputo, trading as paulcaputo.wine, an independent wine critic based in the United Kingdom. Contact: paul@paulcaputo.wine.

2. Accounts

• You must be 18 or older to create an account.
• Provide accurate information when you sign up, and keep it up to date from your settings.
• You’re responsible for keeping your password secure. If you suspect unauthorised access, change it immediately and email me.
• Producer, Trade and Wine People accounts are reviewed manually. I reserve the right to refuse, defer or revoke approval at my discretion.
• You can close your account at any time. I can also close accounts that breach these terms — see section 8.

3. Subscriptions & payment

• Free accounts give you basic access; paid tiers (Reader, Trade, Producer) unlock additional features described on the subscribe page.
• Paid subscriptions renew annually unless you cancel. You can cancel at any time from your account; the subscription remains active until the end of the current billing period.
• Refunds: I offer a full refund within 14 days of purchase under the UK Consumer Contracts Regulations unless you’ve already used substantial paid features (e.g. read more than three subscriber-only reports).
• Payments are processed by Stripe; I do not store card details.
• Prices may change with at least 30 days’ notice; existing subscriptions honour the price you signed up at until renewal.

4. Content on the site

Tasting notes, scores, articles, reports, photographs and editorial commentary on the site are written by Paul Caputo and protected by copyright. You may:

• read everything for personal use;
• quote short extracts (no more than ~50 words) with attribution and a link back to the source page;
• link to any public page on paulcaputo.wine.

You may not, without prior written permission:

• republish whole articles, reports, or sets of tasting notes;
• scrape the site programmatically beyond what robots.txt allows;
• use the content to train AI models;
• use my name, scores, or words to imply endorsement.

For trade or commercial use of scores or excerpts (back labels, marketing materials, retail listings), email me — I’m generally happy to grant permission for genuine excerpts but I want to know what you’re doing.

5. Information you submit

When you submit information through the site (sample submissions, claim requests, business registrations, profile data) you confirm that it’s accurate and that you have the right to share it. You grant me a non-exclusive licence to use the information you submit for the purpose of running the service and producing related editorial content (e.g., displaying your producer page, including your sample in a tasting report).

6. Tasting notes are opinions

All tasting notes, scores and reviews on this site are my personal subjective opinion at the time of tasting. Wine is a living product and individual bottles vary; my note describes a specific bottle on a specific day. Nothing on the site is investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold wine. You take your own decisions.

7. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• use the site for anything illegal;
• impersonate another person or business;
• upload malicious code, spam, or content that is defamatory, obscene, or infringes anyone’s rights;
• attempt to break the site’s security, scrape data at scale, or disrupt other users;
• create multiple accounts to evade limits or bans.

8. Suspension & termination

I can suspend or close any account that breaches these terms or whose behaviour harms other users or the integrity of the site. Where reasonable I’ll explain why and give you a chance to respond first; for serious or repeated breaches I may suspend immediately. If your paid subscription is terminated for breach, no refund is due for the unused portion.

9. Disclaimers

The site is provided “as is.” I make no guarantees that it will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that any specific feature will continue to exist. Editorial content reflects my opinions on the date published and may go out of date.

10. Limitation of liability

Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited under UK law (including for death, personal injury caused by negligence, or fraud). Subject to that:

• I’m not liable for indirect or consequential losses arising from your use of the site (including lost profit, lost data, or business interruption);
• my total liability for any claim arising out of these terms is limited to the amount you paid me in the 12 months before the claim arose, or £100, whichever is greater.

11. Privacy

How I handle your data is described in the Privacy Policy. By using the site you agree to that policy.

12. Changes to these terms

I may update these terms from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top reflects the most recent change. For material changes that affect your rights, I’ll let registered users know by email. Continued use of the site after a change means you accept the new terms.

13. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales, except where consumer-protection law allows you to bring a claim in your home country.

14. Contact

Anything unclear, or you want to discuss specific permissions? Email me at paul@paulcaputo.wine.

This document is intended to be plain-language and is not a substitute for legal advice. For commercial launch, get a UK solicitor or legal-template service to review.